I AM

When did Jesus claim to be God? I mean, it's easy to think of passages where other people called him God (especially Paul), but when did Jesus make the claim himself?

Well, I’ll give you an example, but to do so I have to go back to the beginning. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void, and the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the deep.” The image is one of a watery chaos, a common starting point for ancient Near Eastern creation stories. For example, in the Babylonian creation story, a god has to do battle against the watery chaos. In the Bible creation story, God is simply hovering over the waters, the way a mother hen would hover over her eggs… Fast forward to Exodus 3. When Moses asks God his name, God says, “I AM has sent you.” Fast forward again, this time to Exodus 33. After the miraculous release from slavery, after the Israelites have received torah at Mount Sinai, while wandering around the wilderness, Moses says to God, “Show me your glory.” So God tells Moses, “When I pass you by, you will see my glory.” Fast forward one last time, to the time of Jesus, when he sends his disciples out on the lake. The weather turns sour, the waves kick up, the disciples are straining at the oars, and there’s Jesus, strolling on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but they got terrified, and he stops and says “Take courage! I AM. Don’t be afraid!”

Jesus takes the image of the spirit of God hovering over the watery chaos, the image of God passing by Moses, and he calls himself, “I AM.” Put all that together and, well…you get the point.